let's stumble towards success and pack some snacks for little breaks

Here's Ben Folds' fake new album, leaked by Ben Folds, and here's a story about how this happened. Everyone, including Ben Folds, seems to like "Bitch Went Nutz" best, but I really love "Cologne."

I walked to the Penngrove Motorcycle Company today to pick up the gloves I'd ordered (isn't it awesome that there's a motorcycle accessories store a mile away from my house?). On the way, I passed a herd of nanny goats in a field by the road. When they heard me coming, their ears pricked up. A couple of them started to walk toward me, and soon all ~20 of them were trotting next to me on the other side of the fence, as if I'd told them to heel. When I came back home, the exact same thing happened.

On the one hand, they obviously expected something from me, presumably food. I feel a little rotten for leading them on, so to speak. I'm still working out my views on animal ownership, and the incident made me a bit uncomfortable.

On the other hand, I feel sorta badass. I have a gang of goat minions at my command. What do you have, huh?

Hands-down best moment of being a production assistant for Jonathan Coulton on Friday: carrying one of four cakes in a procession with Jonathan, Paul, and Storm. I think Storm got part of it on video- I hope it makes it onto the DVD. I thought four cakes wasn't going to be enough for the sold-out show, but there was actually quite a bit left over.

For those of you wondering who the heck this Jonathan Coulton guy is, here's his website, and here's an article about him that appeared on the Yahoo! main page on Friday. You may have heard "Code Monkey," "Still Alive" (from Portal), or "Re: Your Brains." He posted a while back about needing PAs for this show, and otherwise_nyc pointed me toward it. He'd already gotten the people he needed by the time I e-mailed him, but he contacted me a few days before the show to see if I was still available. (I wasn't, but I damn well made myself available. You don't pass up something like this.)

Other highlights from the day:

-I stuck a mini-flashlight and a Leatherman in my pocket before I left, figuring they might come in handy. Sure enough, I used both of them within fifteen minutes of stepping inside the theater.
-At one point, Jonathan handed me eight twenty-dollar bills and asked me to get fives. I went to several stores before I managed to break them all, and realized after I had succeeded that the three places I'd gone to were a smoke shop, a liquor store, and a porn theater.
-Part of the concert involved Jonathan playing "Still Alive" on a version of Rock Band that hasn't come out yet, so earlier in the day, I got to hang out with one of the Harmonix people who actually created Rock Band.
-JoCo and Co. failed "Still Alive" at 99% during the show. The Harmonix dude said that that's practically impossible to do.
-When I opened a bag of yellow polypropylene rope to use for blocking off areas for the cameras, I discovered a priceless little booklet entitled, "Proper Use And Care Of Rope." The first page begins, "CAUTION! IMPORTANT ROPE KNOWLEDGE."
-The camera script included some amusing bits, including "***JIB: swivel, scan the audience (wide lens); swoop and hunt, scare people," "The next song is his 'last song' (not really though)," and "Shoot people eating cake." (When I read that last, my immediate reaction was, "Cake AND death!")
-Jonathan thanked his PAs onstage, and several clusters of friends of mine hollered when he said my name. Thanks, guys. :P

Most of what I actually spent my time doing was grunt work- taping down cables, hauling furniture around, fetching things from across the building, etc. But it was fun. I got to watch the camera guys doing their thing, and all the other behind-the-scenes activity necessary for something like this, which was fascinating. Gaff tape is now my bitch, after a lot of trial and error. My muscles certainly got a good workout. Nearly everyone I met was nice and polite and fun to be around, including Jonathan, with whom I got to chat a bit. I got free food, and got to watch the concert for free too. All in all, it was a great experience, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the DVD.

The Savage Love podcast makes me happy.

Also, for the yarn-inclined among you, a knitter who will make you swoon from the pure testosterone.

By the way, has everyone noticed my new default icon? *points*

Terribly, terribly sorry for the overload of updates today, but I know someone who got kissed by Orlando Bloom last night twice, the first time after making a comment about the humility he was showing by admiring himself in the mirror. She also got to meet Gore Verbinski and Geoffrey Rush.

Thought perhaps some of you might like to know.

Someone posted the Anagrammies to the National Puzzlers' League list a while ago, and I was reading it to kill time between classes when I came across this gem by Meyran Kraus, and absolutely had to share it.

This...

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails behind them.

Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For still they all were fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She, found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left all their tails behind 'em!

It happened one day, as Bo-Peep did stray
Unto a meadow hard by --
There she espied their tails, side by side,
All hung on a tree to dry.

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,
And over the hillocks she raced;
And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,
That each tail should be properly placed.

...anagrams into this:

(Detective Halsted frowns.)

Det. Halsted: That's all?
Bo-Peep: Yeah.
Det. Halsted: Mind telling me the reason for the rhymes and the third-person narrative?
Bo-Peep: It's just the way I was brought up. Are we done here?
Det. Halsted: What's the hurry, Folk Fan? There's time for another poem.
Bo-Peep: Ah... Ever hear this one? 'Hey Diddle Diddle-'
Det. Halsted: Diddle with this, Hot Cheeks: the herd has been found slain and de-tailed. And hence, the Shepherd Hill Maniac... is here, in front of me.
Bo-Peep (feebly): No, that's a lie.
Det. Halsted: The game is up! Come clean! Don't you hear the lambs scream? They'll be louder... and louder...
Bo-Peep (sobbing): Alright! I killed them... I killed them all.
Det. Halsted (to an officer): Take her away.
Bo-Peep: I'll see you in hell, Halsted.